4 Forgotten Cars From the 80s/90s. [ Should You Buy? ]

It's that time again, let's talk about four strange, obscure,

forgotten

cars

from the 80s and 90s and

should

I buy one of them, assembly time Hello everyone, welcome to Hello Road, the 80s and 90s were an interesting era for vehicles and only a little recently. Car enthusiasts have begun to realize that there are some fantastic vehicles from this era, but today we're not going to talk about the most obvious ones, like the Ferrari Testarossa and the Lamborghini Countach. We are going to talk about the strangers, the

forgotten

and the unloved. vehicles from this era,

cars

that simply didn't sell well or were too rare for the buying public or suffered from poor marketing or perhaps weren't built as well or were considered disposable and were scrapped when the repair bills got too high.

We probably haven't seen him in a long time. Can we find any of these forgotten cars for sale or will they all be lost to history? Let's fire up our web browsers and see what we can come up with with the Renault Drive Fuego at Renault and American Motors dealerships everywhere. When was the last time you saw a Renault Fuego? The fire is a front wheel drive sports hatchback built by renault and available in the united states through american motor dealers when renault had a stake in amc based on the renault 18i. Fuego featured a very distinctive design with its full-length black body ridges, Fuego was sold in the US from 1982 to 1986 and at the time of its launch was the cheapest and best equipped turbocharged hatchback available here, while that various engines around the world were used here.

In the US we were able to get Renault's 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that makes 107 horsepower. 0 to 60 miles per hour can be reached in about 10 seconds, not bad for the time, on paper, in reality, there is a lot in favor of the fire, it was one of the best-selling coupes in Europe from 1980 to 1982. The Fuego was quite comfortable, had a very large and useful hatchback, had good gas mileage, had a solid list of standard features and could be had for a relatively low price and was the first car available. With remote keyless entry, even Motorweek was singing its lines saying, "We think AMC Renault has a sure winner," but here in the United States the fire barely set the auto industry on fire, selling only 195,000 units between 1982 and 1986.

Why? Why were sales so low and where? Did those 95,000 fires end even though Motorweek congratulated the fire? They did point out some of its biggest shortcomings. It wasn't a great handling car and had less than stellar brakes. It was designed more for comfort than performance, which was maxed out. Rennell's marketing campaign ads for the car featured F1 driver Ellen Prost and linked the fire to Renault's F1 heritage, but the reality was that the car wasn't fast, it wasn't as sporty, and Therefore, it did not live up to Rennell's expectations. that it had created for it, perhaps with less optimistic marketing it would have been better aligned with customer expectations, but perhaps the biggest nail in the coffin of the fire and perhaps of all of Renault's efforts in North America was the perception of unreliability .

I don't have first-hand information. experience when it comes to rental reliability from the 80s, but there's a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest it wasn't very good, they had that recall where the steering wheels just fell off in people's hands, that's not It was very good, some have said the fire was the best looking car, broken down on the side of the road, spare parts availability was difficult and this reputation certainly must have affected sales, so where is everyone now with stock values? reselling in the gutter right after its debut? the hands of people who couldn't afford the maintenance or the patience to find parts.

I have to imagine that almost all of them ended up in the jaws of the crusher. Any chance we could find one today I would be surprised if I could find one. fire, this is going to be impossible, okay, yeah, obviously, nothing here, let's try Craigslist, nothing, of course, okay, so I'm not going to waste any more time trying to find one for sale in the US, Let's see if we can find one internationally, yeah, look at all of them. These, of course, sold much better in Europe than here. There are so many to choose from.

Well, here's a Fuego GTX. This is in Germany, so it costs just under 12,000 euros. This is in Spain. The Euro Fuegos look much better than the previous ones. We came to the United States because they don't have those giant bumpers. 5,000 euros for that one, this one costs 62.50, this one is the one from Holland, one more, it's also in pretty good condition, look at that thing, so if you decide, you're fine. With Renault's maybe spotty reliability and you want to try to find one of these things in the US, you're definitely out of luck, but if you're heading to Europe, it looks like there are still a few of these available.

Well, let's take a look. Next up, the new Eagle Vista family, sophisticated international small cars. Well, here's one from yesterday. I didn't even know it existed. Let's talk about the Eagle Vista. Now many of you will remember the Eagle brand used by Chrysler starting in 1988. It says we got the super rad Eagle Talon along with several other mostly forgotten cars like the Medallion, Premiere and Summit before they killed off the brand in 1998. Yes, it lasted until 1998. I also didn't know that the Eagle Vista hatchback and sedan are essentially re-badges of the second generation Mitsubishi Mirage and the Eagle Vista wagon was a re-badge of the Mitsubishi Space Wagon.

The Eagle Sights were only available in Canada, but if these cars look familiar it's because in the states they were sold as Dodges. or plymouth cult and in australia they were identified as the mitsubishi cult, many different names for exactly the same cars, the eagle vista sedans along with a dodge and variations of plymouth colt could be obtained with a 1, 5 liters and 69 horsepower or a fast 102 horsepower. 1.6 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder. The trucks were available with a 2-liter inline four-cylinder engine. I love the mini minivan functionality of the Vista wagon, but if I had to choose a Vista, it would have to be the turbo hatchback, although I haven't even done that.

I have been able to find a photo of one, let's take a look at the Dodge Colt Turbo, which is functionally and visually identical, apart from the badge, the turbo hits 60 miles per hour in 9.8 seconds according to Motorweek Quick for the time, they praised its handling and braking. Even though it had a good amount of torque steer, but that goes with the territory, I still want a Dodge and a Plymouth Colt that seemed to have been common in the 80's, but now most of them are gone and I have to Imagine that views of eagles are even rarer, can we find one for sale?

I guess not, but we can take a look anyway, of course not, let's try Craigslist, of course, nothing is right, so yeah, it's clearly not worth trying to find an eagle eye view. try looking up the Dodge Colt, nothing of course, how about the Plymouth Cult? No nothing, how about the Mitsubishi Mirage, of course not, Dodges and Plymouth Colts used to be a relatively common sight back in the 80's, you used to see ads for these things all the time and today most of them don't exist anymore? You have one? Do you know of any for sale?

Let me know in the comments, right away, next time. Next up is a convertible mashup designed by Lotus, developed under General Motors and sold by Kia. The Kia Elan. Why is it such a complicated path to discover? We have to go back to 1989. Lotus, then a subsidiary of General Motors, launched its first and only front-wheel drive convertible sports car, the M-100 Elan, which cost $55 million to develop. It was the most expensive project that Lotus had taken on. The choice to go with a front wheel drive layout was quite controversial at the time as all Lotuses before and after the m-100 were rear wheel drive, as would be expected from a roadster so why switch to front wheel drive?

Lotus defended its decision by saying that a front-wheel drive layout would produce a faster car than a rear-wheel drive layout; However, the real reason may have been that General Motors had no four-cylinder engines that were suitable for rear-wheel drive applications, but concern about front-wheel drive quickly faded once people got in and experienced the cars. At the time, it was one of the best-handling front-wheel drive cars available. The magazine even said it was the best front-wheel drive car they had ever seen. It featured a fiberglass composite body and the turbo sc variant featured Isuzu's 1.6-liter dual overhead cam inline four-cylinder engine that produced 162 horsepower. 0-60 was very quick at around 6.5 Seconds sales of the Lotus M-100 Elan were well below expectations, especially in the US where only 559 units were sold.

Why did this critically acclaimed car sell so poorly? It all comes down to price and timing the price based on elan was almost thirty four thousand dollars sixty. seven thousand in today's dollars and was launched around the same time as the Mazda MX-5 Miata, can you guess? The Lotus was a futuristic and expensive version of the classic British roadster, but the Miata was possibly a purer representation that had had more in common with the original 1960s model than this new Lotus and the Miata cost only 14 thousand dollars approximately 27,000 in today's dollars the alarm was clearly faster and more powerful than the Miata but many felt that the Miata was a much more fun car to drive The m100 is a great car, but its success was certainly affected by the high price and poor timing.

The car was discontinued in the United States in 1992. The vehicle was a major financial failure for Lotus after investing so much in the project and selling so few of these cars. so back to kia, how do they fit into this picture? lotus sold the rights to the vehicle to kia quite possibly as a way to recoup some of their investment and kia released it as the kia alan, the main design difference between the lotus and the kia is the taillights, the kia elan also ditched the engine Isuzu in favor of a 1.8-liter, 151-horsepower Kia engine from 1996 to 1999.

Just over a thousand Kia Alans were built. Can we find one for sale in the states? It's probably not the kia, but maybe the lotus, let's find out, okay, there are a few of these for sale in the US, let's look at this one right here, okay, 25,000 for this one, it looks like it's in pretty good condition. condition, but you would think they could have put air in the tires. before they took pictures of it, why is it so good? Yeah, five thousand miles on this thing, but seriously, just put some air in that tire, okay, let's look at this one here, this one is on eBay, fifteen thousand dollars, it's a little more reasonable.

The car has 28,000 miles on it and they actually put air in the tires. I really like the style of the rear of this car. It looks incredible. How about this one here? This one is red. This can be purchased for 13 thousand. looks like it's in pretty good shape okay there are some available let's check Craigslist okay this one is in Connecticut 15 thousand 30,000 miles on this one not bad so we were able to easily find a couple of lotus alarms for sale what about kia elans certainly none in the US, but let's check internationally. Check this out, there are some available.

Okay, this one is in Germany, not many photos, but just under six thousand euros, okay, how about this one? Here's a yellow one. This one is pretty loud, so this one has a badge. like a lotus alarm but appears like a kia alan. I'm not sure if maybe someone took a kia alan and then put a lotus badge on it. Let's look at this one. Those quad popups are pretty cool. Someone wanted everyone to know. that this is a big lotus sticker on the side of this thing, okay, so there's some of these things here's a red one, the last one what's it about okay, I actually found one that still has the Kia badge on it, It seems like taking the badge off these things is a popular thing there, there's that Kia badge, well, there you have just under seven thousand euros for a Kia Elan, well, next up, handcrafted by individuals for individuals, wake up the hype. imagination.

Buick made a luxury two-seater in the late 80s and early 90s, they sure did and called it a flood. Now it's your turn to try this experience. The Buick Riada is a two-seat personal car built by General Motors in 1988. Until 1991, intended to be Buick's halo car, the Riada was based on a modified electronic body platform that had much in common with the Buick Riviera on the Oldsmobile. Toronado, although the car has a somewhat sporty look, was not positioned as a sports car for marketing. the car focused on comfort and practicality over performance, it seems like GM was trying toAttracting a younger demographic with its looks, but not alienating its traditional Buick buyers, who as you may have guessed were very old under the hood, is GM's tried and true 3.8-liter engine. v6 made 165 horsepower and was increased to 170 during the last year of production.

The only transmission option was a four-speed automatic. 0 to 60 could be achieved in about nine seconds, which wasn't bad for the time Riotta came with tons of standard features, it even had a 16-way power adjustable seat. Also a central feature of the interior was Buick's touchscreen graphical control center. Yes, a CRT touch screen from the late 80's. This screen controlled the HVAC stereo system. Trip computer, among other things, was actually far ahead. of its time, but unfortunately not always reliable critics criticized it as unnecessarily complex and difficult to use GM abandoned the control center in later floods in favor of a more traditional dashboard the exterior has simple, clean lines from some angles it is elegant and from other angles it's a It's a little awkward, I think it looks great from this front three-quarter view, especially with those parking lights and pop-up headlights, but it's a little weirdly proportioned from this rear three-quarter view and I always thought that the front overhang was just a little long.

The Riada's design and manufacturing process was quite different from what GM would have done for a high-volume car rather than on a conventional assembly line. Buick used a system in which automobiles were moved from station to station, requiring more manpower and individual attention than was typical for general engines. Very few people decided to spend their money on Buick's new halo car, which caused such slow sales that it seemed as if Buick was trying to appeal to everyone, which effectively meant that they appealed to almost no one. casual but Enduring Riata was not sporty enough to appeal to younger baby boomers, it was not luxurious enough to convert Mercedes buyers and, being a small two-seater, it did not align with the needs of the clientele.

Traditional older Buick, the Riada unintentionally became a General Motors, a rare vehicle, it intended to sell 22,000 Riatas a year, but did not even sell that many during its four years of operation, even the introduction of a convertible in 1990 had little effect. Sales of the rag roof were barely noticed after four years of slow sales. He decided to kill off the Riata in 1991. Overall, the Riado was a nice and interesting car, but it never aligned with a particular buyer and the Riviera on which it was based came with a rear seat and was less expensive. What if the riata had?

Coming with a supercharged V6 or a manual transmission would have appealed to younger buyers back then or Buick was always destined to remain the choice for grandpas and grandmas everywhere, although the flood didn't sell as well, it did attract some younger buyers to the Buick brand and apparently the car was popular with women who represented about half of all Riata owners. Let's see what we can find. Alright, a few ranging from two thousand to seventeen thousand dollars for a low volume car. There are tons of these for sale. a little surprised let's take a look at some of these cheap skates because I'm a cheap skate guy and I like a good value so this one has 187,000 miles on it, it's only two grand, it actually looks like it's on Digital Dashboard on very good condition and look the control center seems to be still working look at the date Friday January 1, 1988.

Yeah not bad there are some issues here but two grand for a pretty rare car let's take a look at another one , OK? So this one is three thousand dollars and it looks pretty good too. This is the 91, so it has an upgraded dash. There's no control center on this one, but overall it looks pretty decent. So this is one of the most expensive ones. This is 17,500. This is a convertible. Digital dash yes and it looks like it's in very good condition if you're looking for a Riyada convertible, they obviously didn't make many so 17,000 seems like a lot.

Okay, this one looks a little rough, I think 2900. That might be too much for this one considering the condition of the paint, so we have to look at this one. They're asking 35 grand for this. I mean, this is in excellent condition, but even in the past. There weren't many buyers for this car, so how many are there today? I don't know. Look at that interior, white leather seats, bright red steering wheel, wow, that's something else, it looks straight out of the 50's, not the 80's. right, yeah, I'm not going to pay 35,000 for this car, if you want a really nice riot convertible check this one out since there are so many let me see if I can find one locally there are two in LA let's look at these. just a little over three thousand dollars there's only 70,000 miles on this thing and this one has the control center I gotta get it right let's look at this other 2500 only 98,000 miles I might have to buy this one there are those pop-oops again, This looks pretty good, so there you have it tons of flood for sale.

I wouldn't have guessed it, but if you want one, there is a lot to choose from, from about two thousand to almost forty thousand dollars, so keep in mind. For me, a car is like something I use, it has to fit well and feel good because of the style. . What are some of your favorite cars from the '80s and '90s? What are some of your favorite forgotten cars from any era out of the four in existence? I showed here in this video which one would you choose if any of them for me has to be the elan.

I'll have more videos featuring my collection of cars from the 80s and 90s, reviews of new and used vehicles, and road trips to unique places, and of course more videos where we look at the radical cars of the past. Are there any cars you'd like me to include in a future video? Let me know in the comments below. OK, good bye.